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Electricity-Generating Wind Turbinefrom Electric Bicycle Motor

NICHANNANT SEMSRI 1, CHONMAPAT TORASA 2,KITTIPAT SAMERJAI 3, MONTRIE SUKSOMBAT 4,PISIT SINPENG 5

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University,Bangkok, Thailand

Published online: 10 August 2016

To cite this article: N. Semsri., C. Torasa., K. Samerjai., M. Suksombat and P. Sinpeng, “Electricity-generating wind turbine fromelectric bicycle motor,” International Journal of Technology and Engineering Studies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 101-109, 2016.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.20469/ijtes.2.40002-4

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International Journal of Technology and Engineering Studiesvol, 2, no. 4, pp. 101-109, 2016 IJTES

ELECTRICITY-GENERATING WIND TURBINE FROM ELECTRIC BICYCLEMOTOR

NICHANNANT SEMSRI 1∗, CHONMAPAT TORASA 2, KITTIPAT SAMERJAI 3,MONTRIE SUKSOMBAT 4, PISIT SINPENG 5

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand

Keywords:Saline CountyWind TurbineElectricity GenerationElectric Bicycle Motor

Received: 10 June 2016Accepted: 23 June 2016Published: 10 August 2016

Abstract. Wind energy is one type of renewable energy which does not cause pollution. Presently, there is a technologicaldevelopment to apply wind energy for the electricity generation. Wind energy is used to replace fossil energy, such asoil and coal, causing environmental pollution. In Thailand, the studies of wind energy application to generate electricityhave been promoted. Nowadays, there is number of small and medium wind turbines used for electricity generation inbuildings, houses and small communities. This project took a 48 volts, 1,000 watt electric bicycle motor to apply in order tomake a saline county wind turbine to generate electricity. The turbine consisted of 6 rotor blades. Each blade was 1.5meters long, and was made from 150 x 130 centimeter synthetic fabrics. A rotor of the turbine was connected with arotor of the electric bicycle motor through a 1:7.5 gearbox to increase the rotational speed of the electric bicycle motor.From the experiment, it was found that the invented saline county wind turbine started rotating at the wind speed of 1.5m/s and generated 3 phases of AC voltage. Average voltage in each phase was 6 volts at the rotational speed of 60-80rpm. As seen from the test, at the maximum wind speed of 4.7 m/s, 11-12 volts of AC voltage in a single phase wasproduced with the approximate 130-140 rpm rotational speed of the motor. When connecting the generated AC voltageto rectifier and filter circuits to convert it into DC voltage for battery charging purpose, the maximum wind speed at 4.7m/s generated approximately 15-16 volts of DC voltage. This capacity was sufficient for 12-volt battery charging in a real use.

c©2016 KKG Publications. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTIONThere were various studies on electricity-generating

wind turbines in a hope to use them to develop better electricity-generating wind turbines, electricity generating systems and soforth. The ultimate goal was to utilize wind energy as a cleanway to generate electricity for everyday use. Most areas inThailand were with low wind speed, hence, wind turbines werenot widely used. All those wind turbines on the markets weremainly for high-speed wind areas. The development of windturbines that could be used in low-speed wind areas was crucial.According to an initial study, saline county wind turbines hadbeen in use to pull water balers at the coastlines from the past tillnow. Idea in designing saline county wind turbines to generateelectricity was initiated. Various materials and equipment wereadapted and applied aptly. The study on the possibility to use anelectric bicycle motor as an electricity generator combined witha small wind turbine was conducted. The sources of informationas follows played a significant role in this study:

Electric Bicycle MotorElectric bicycle motor is a DC motor that changed elec-

tricity power to mechanical strength by rotating bicycle wheels.2 types of motors were used in an electric bicycle. Each typecame with its individual advantages and disadvantages as ex-plained below:

A brushed DC motor was rotated by armature coil whichlater created a magnetic field that pushed against with a mag-netic field from an internal permanent magnet within a motor.Electricity power was passed on to the brush and then to acommuter contact which supplied electricity into armaturecoil on a slot motor shaft. A brushed DC electric motor wasrelatively cheap and pretty inefficient. The greatest advantageof DC motors may be speed control. Since speed is directlyproportional to armature voltage and inversely proportional tothe magnetic flux produced by the poles, adjusting the armaturevoltage and/or the field current will change the rotor speed [1].

∗Corresponding author: Nichannant Semsri†Email: nichanan.se@ssru.ac.th, chonmapat.to@ssru.ac.th

2016 Int. J. Tec. Eng. Stud. 102

Fig. 1 . Brushed DC electric motor

A brushless DC motor or hub motor comprised of 3phase coil series. Each phase contained many coils and therewere feedback signals from hall sensors. Each hall sensorwas situated 120 degree in distance to one another. The workperformance was complicated while the performance efficiencywas 90% better than that of a brushed DC electric motor.

Furthermore, maintenance of this brushless motor wasuncomplicated. There are also many uses for brushless DCthat don’t involve the need for total user control. Brushless DCmotors are more reliable than brushed motors, since it has nocommutators that can break and wear out [2].

Fig. 2 . Brushless DC motor

Saline County Wind TurbineIn Thailand, wind turbines for agricultural purpose had

been utilized for such a long time period. Even though there wasstate-of-the-art technology, farmers still employed wind turbineenergy to pull water from a low level to a higher land. Particu-larly in the upper Thai gulf areas in Samut songkram provinceand Samut sakorn province, wind turbines were invented by theThai ancient local wisdom and were used. Cheap and functional

local materials for the geographical areas were brought into useto make the turbines. They helped to pull a huge amount of seawater baler to saline fields for salt productions. The characteris-tics of the saline county wind turbines were as follows:

• Blade was made of wood adhered to a rotor. Wind contactsurface was made from either bamboo mattress or canvas.At present, there were 6 plastic sheets being used andinstalled on a rotor on a wooden pole. Such wind turbine

103 N. Semsri, C. Torasa, K. Samerjai, M. Suksombat, P. Simpeng - Electrrically-generating wind turbine .... 2016

required wind speed from 2.5 meters per second (m/s)and upwards in order to allow the turbine to rotate. Ifthere was strong wind, 3 blades were folded and the other3 were left to face the wind. All of the 6 blades werefolded when they were not in use.

• Wind turbine poles were made from 2 hardwood treessticking in pair to support a rotor.

• Shaft belts were made from sticky and durable ropes.They passed on rotation force from a rotor to a shaft axisto pull water baler.

• Shaft axis was made from either steel or round wood lo-

cated on the paired wooden poles. There were woodenprongs similar to an anchor gear installed in the middleto drive and pull the baler.

• Waterspout and baler were made from wood. The water-spout was in a U shape facing up across water and salinefields. Wooden sheets in the same size to a sectional areaof the waterspout made balers in tiles. Each baler wasadequately connected with one another by ropes or chaindrive in order to store and pull water from a low level toa high level.

Fig. 3 . Wind turbine for pulling water baler [11]

Fig. 4 . Saline wind turbine at Thai gulf coastline [11]

2016 Int. J. Tec. Eng. Stud. 104

In 1981, there was an assessment of 2000 sets of windturbines used for pulling water balers. The blades of thoseturbines were made from wood. Also the same assessment wasconducted on 3000 sets of wind turbines used in saline fieldsand shrimp fields. The blades of those turbines, on the otherhand, were made from bamboo mattress/canvas. In 1989, surveyon the wind turbines located within 20 kilometers of Samutsakorn province and Samut songkram province was executed.It was discovered that 667 sets of the wind turbines remained.Yet presently, there are fewer wind turbines left on the salinefields. The quantity had become fewer and fewer due to thechange from an agricultural area to an industrial area as wellas an emergence of a motor pump water [3]. Although windturbines for pulling water balers had remained minimal, therewas a constant design development on materials to be usedto make saline county wind turbine productions to generatewind energy, clean alternative energy to the environment. [4]developed and improved designs and materials for saline countywind turbines to be more functional for actual use. Bearingswere the linkers to pass on emerging forces stemming fromshafts down to the other components as well as reduced frictionamong the contact surfaces. This augmented working capabilityamong the moving components, reduced abrasion loss, andprolonged wheels that shifted shaft forces to a mechanicalsuction power water pump. This pump was deployed in placeof a conventional rail baler. The newly improved turbine was2 times better in pumping water and offered half of the costcompared to a traditional saline wind turbine. In addition, [5]

developed wind turbine for pumping water. A saline countywind turbine was used as a prototype and a helm was installed soas to obtain wind from all directions. Canvas was taken to makeblades which reduced the overall cost. The turbine was situatedon a 10-meter tower, it worked suitably with 2-3 m/s wind speed.

Electricity-Generating Wind TurbineA wind turbine invented to shift kinetic energy from

wind to mechanical energy. When wind blew to blades, a rotorof the turbine started moving. A typical electricity-generatingwind turbine was designed by attaching blades to a rotor ofan electricity generator. When a turbine rotated, energy waspassed on to the main shaft, to a gearbox transmission adheredto the main shaft as well as connected to a rotor of the electricitygenerator [6]. This was how electricity was generated.

Many factors affecting electricity generation producedfrom wind turbines included wind speed, blade size, bladequantity, wind turbine height, etc. A blade was categorized into2 types based on its rotation angles on a rotor. Vertical AxisWind Turbine (VAWT), its rotor and its blades were in verticalangle with the wind motions. This type of turbine obtainedwind at all vertical directions as seen in the Figure 5. On theother hand, Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT), its rotorlocated in parallel with the wind directions .The blades were inhorizontal angle with wind motions; therefore, it was necessaryto have a helm to control the blades to move in accordance withthe wind directions as shown in the Figure 6.

Fig. 5 . Vertical axis wind turbine

Fig. 6 . Horizontal axis wind turbine

105 N. Semsri, C. Torasa, K. Samerjai, M. Suksombat, P. Simpeng - Electrrically-generating wind turbine .... 2016

In addition to the electricity-generating wind turbinebeing sold everywhere, there were some individuals who wereinterested in studying and creating a wind turbine for differentforms of electricity generation such as [7] conducted a researchby focusing on electricity generation by bringing a ventilatorinto connection with a gearbox to speed up the rotation of theDC motor. From the experiment, at the 2 m/s wind speed, 3.5volts voltage was generated; moreover, a DC step-up converterwas put to use to increase the voltage to 12 volts in order touse with a LED lamp. [8] developed a Horizontal Axis WindTurbine that produced 1 kW of electricity. He designed andmade a 2 x 6 meters ESCO wind turbine which was fitting to thewind condition in Thailand where wind was of low speed andfluctuating. Such turbine obtained wind from all directions, andit was at the maximum efficiency when facing the wind fromthe front surface and the back surface. Besides, [9] promoted asaline county wind turbine for electricity generation by usinga monopole 22-80 meters in height depending on the diameterof the blade varying from 12, 30, 50, and 70 meters. Due tothe stated size, the wind turbine had a capability to produceelectricity at different levels from 5, 50, 500 kW and 1 MW.There was a stretch control system as well as a fold system

performed based on wind speed. Such systems were manipu-lated by a micro controller system and there was a system thatallowed adjustment on a blade height from the beginning tothe end of the pole. This system was beneficial when a repairor maintenance was in need. [10] designed small wind turbinethat generated electricity for lamp outside the building and LEDstreet lamp.

Project ObjectiveTo design and build a horizontal axis saline wind turbine

for an electricity-generation from an electric bicycle motor.

RESEARCH METHODSThe purpose in designing and creating a saline county

wind turbine was to generate electricity from an electric bicyclemotor, the research was to study and obtain feasible approachesthat could be implemented by using an electric bicycle motor asan electric generator. The motor took mechanical energy fromrotations of a saline county wind turbine as a starting energysource. The design steps, the production process, together withthe test of such wind turbine were shown in the Figure 7.

Fig. 7 . Diagram of research process

2016 Int. J. Tec. Eng. Stud. 106

Design of a Saline Wind TurbineFrom researches on various types of saline county wind

turbines made for different usage purposes in Thailand, thedesigned wind turbine base and blades comprised of tower baseand wind turbine structure. The tower base was made from 1x1inch steel square that was assembled to a trapezoid lookalike,its base was 1.2 meter long, and its top was 0.5 meter long. 2towers were 3 meters high and each of them was spaced 1.5meters from one another. 1-inch bearings were installed onthe tower heads to attach a shaft axis of the blades so that therotation of the shaft axis flowed smoothly. 6 pieces of triangle

blades were 1.5 meter long each. 150 x 130 centimeters syn-thetic fabrics were made for blades. A blade structure containeda shaft axis for bearing installation, one edge of the shaft axiscame with a 30 centimeter gear dish. 70 gear teeth were used torotate an electric bicycle motor located close to the towers. A 48volt, 1000 watt electric bicycle motor came with a 4 centimeterdiameter of the gear dish containing 12 gear teeth, to acceleratethe motor rotation at the approximate ration of 1:7.5. Both geardishes rotated following each other by a chain as seen in theFigure 8.

Fig. 8 . Design of saline wind turbine for electricity generation

Design of Rectifier Series and Filter CircuitsGenerated electricity voltage from an electric bicycle

motor was 3 phase AC voltage. When using the electricity witha LED lamp, it was important to convert AC voltage into DCvoltage through a diode. Once a conversion was done, con-nection was made with a filter circuit by the use of a capacitor

so that electricity voltage became consistent. The electricityvoltage that an electric bicycle motor produced changed basedon speed of the motor rotation. Then the DC voltage was con-nected with a battery charger to store electricity for long-termuse.

Fig. 9 . Diagram of rectifier series and filter circuit

Creation of a Saline Wind Turbine for Electricity Genera-tion from an Electric Bicycle Motor

Once the design was completed, the next step was to

build a saline county wind turbine, and then tested its per-formance to improve and assess the electricity generationoutput produced by an electric bicycle motor.

107 N. Semsri, C. Torasa, K. Samerjai, M. Suksombat, P. Simpeng - Electrrically-generating wind turbine .... 2016

Fig. 10 . Wind turbine structure

Fig. 11 . Gear of turbine axis and gear of electric bicycle motor

Fig. 12 . Created saline wind turbine

Testing the Performance of the Saline County Wind Tur-bine in Terms of its Capability in Making Electricity so asto Evaluate the Study Results in Different Issues

Measuring a rotational speed of the electric bicyclemotor at various wind speed levels by the use of a tachometer.

The result showed that the wind turbine started ro-tating at the approximate wind speed of 1.5 m/s, and the motorwas rotating for about 60-80 rpm. When testing at the 4.5 m/swind speed, the motor could rotate at the speed of 140-145 rpmas shown in the Figure 13.

2016 Int. J. Tec. Eng. Stud. 108

Fig. 13 . Graph showing relations between a rotational speed ofan electric bicycle motor and wind speed

Measuring AC voltage that an electric bicycle motor pro-duced at various levels of wind speed by using an AC voltmeterto measure a phase-to-phase AC voltage of the motor. A motorphase was a balance type with a phase-to-phase electricityvoltage resulting in the same value in each paired phase. Fromthe measurement, it was pointed out that a saline county wind

turbine could start generating electricity at the 1.5 m/s windspeed. The phase-to-phase voltage was averagely 6 volts. Itwas revealed that the electricity voltage would increase moreand more when the blades obtained faster wind speed. At anaverage 4.5 m/s wind speed, 12 volts of AC electricity wereproduced.

Fig. 14 . Graph showing relations between generatedAC electricity voltage and wind speed.

Measuring DC voltage through a rectifier series and afilter circuit at different levels of wind speed by the use of DCvoltmeter to measure the DC voltage stored in a capacitor. Fromthe test result, the generated AC voltage from an

electric bicycle motor through rectifier series and filter cir-cuits increased DC voltage value as seen in the Figure 15. Atthe 2 m/s wind speed, 10 volts of DC electricity were derived. Atthe 4.5 m/s wind speed, 15 volts of DC electricity were obtained.

Fig. 15 . Graph showing relations between DC voltage and wind speed

109 N. Semsri, C. Torasa, K. Samerjai, M. Suksombat, P. Simpeng - Electrrically-generating wind turbine .... 2016

DISCUSSIONThe research on electricity-generating wind turbines as

a result of an electric bicycle motor was aimed to bring electricbicycle motor into use as an electricity generator from windenergy. A saline county wind turbine was built to perform asan initial source in rotating a motor axis to generate electricityvoltage. A saline county wind turbine did not need to have itsblades installed at a high level. Materials could be purchasedanywhere. Such obtained knowledge could be given to people,

especially farmers who were into building a wind turbine fortheir agricultural usage. From the test on the wind turbine, itcould be seen that a 48 volt, 1000 watt electricity bicycle motorfunctionally produced electricity for real use.

Generated voltage when compared to different levelsof wind speed could be summarized as seen in the Table 1.Moreover, the wind turbine must consistently face wind in orderto generate electricity.

TABLE 1HYDRO TURBINE PARAMETERS DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF BLADES

Wind speed(m/s) Motor speed (rpm) AC Voltage from motor (Volts) DC Voltage from rectifier and filter (Volts)1.5 60-80 6 92.0 80-90 7 102.5 90-100 9 113.0 110-115 10 123.5 120-125 11 134.0 130-140 12 154.5 140-145 12 15

SUGGESTIONS1. The wind turbine should be promoted and upgraded so as tobetter obtain wind at all directions. The current design can onlyrotate when wind blows to the front side and the back side ofthe turbine.2. There should be an experiment using a low-speed generatorto generate electricity. Most areas are with low-level windspeed, about 3-4 m/s. Hence, the generator should be able tohelp in increasing electricity voltage generation.

3. A wind charger that directly takes a 3-phase AC voltage pro-duced from an electric bicycle motor should be deployed. It willmitigate electricity loss during the electricity generation process.

AcknowledgementWe would like to show our deepest gratitude to Suan

Sunandha Rajabhat University for giving us the opportunity toparticipate in the conference.

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Sciences, 7th World Conference on Educational Sciences, vol. 197, pp. 1690-1696, July 25, 2015.[8] N. Buranajant. (2015). 1 kW horizontal axis wind turbine development [Online]. Available: http://km.lib.kmutt.ac.th[9] M Triple M Limited Partnership. (2015). M Triple M wind turbine[Online]. Available: http://www.m3mthailand.com[10] N. Thungsuk and A. Chaitanakulawat, “Saline wind turbine innovative lighting street from renewable energy to the

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